NEWS
Press Release
INDONESIA: 16th March 2020
BRITISH SCHOOL OF JAKARTA STEPS UP IN AIR QUALITY MATTER
In the recent years, air quality has been worsening in Indonesia as the country urbanises. This is evident as Jakarta tops the list of worse air quality among global cities, as reported by Channel News Asia in August 2019*. The rise of air pollution is definitely a cause for concern, being one of the world's leading risk factor for respiratory issues and death. Hence, as a responsible entity, British School of Jakarta who hosts over 1450 students and 140 teachers from all over the world, has embarked on a journey to improve air quality for students and staffs.
As part of the commitment, British School of Jakarta (BSJ) has commissioned ARIA - a system specifically designed for outdoor air quality and weather monitoring. This new compact and integrated system was designed and set up by Asia Pacific Air Quality (APAQ) Group together with our partners Met One, ENVEA Group and LSI Lastem.
So what is ARIA?
ARIA is engineered by APAQ Group to bridge the gap between regulatory monitoring systems and low-cost handheld monitors. It is a fully integrated near reference dust monitoring and weather system. This real-time data is of near reference quality which is indicative of the unparalleled air quality monitoring standards and methodology. The system also comes with 3G communications and automated data reporting.
Specially designed for BSJ, the ARIA system is customised and integrated from a variety of air pollutants sensors that measures:
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Particulate Matter, PM10
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Sulphur Dioxide, SO2
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Carbon Monoxide, CO
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Nitrogen Dioxide, NO2
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Ozone, O3
The selection of the pollutants is based on the Air Quality Index (AQI) by US-EPA. This is important as students often spent a huge amount of their time in school and poor air quality are especially harmful to young children as BSJ hosts students aged 3-18. Hence, monitoring criteria pollutants allow for the school to pass down appropriate advisory to students immediately as well as devise appropriate measures to evacuate students in case of emergency. Also, the monitoring of criteria pollutants could potentially serve as a baseline study and complement the future solutions by the school to improve the air quality.
Furthermore, to make the information readily and conveniently accessible, a webpage with a dashboard detailing the air pollutants trends with real-time data as well as the AQI was created. The information is made available exclusively to the relevant authority with just a click away.
All in all, the journey that the BSJ has embarked on is truly an inspiring and remarkable one. The APAQ Group is very honoured to be given the chance to work on such meaningful project and be involved in this initiative!
The environmental indicative sensors used to measure particulate matter and gaseous pollutants are ES-642 by Met One (UK Mcerts) and Cairsens by ENVEA Group respectively. The device used for data processing is Alpha-Log by LSI Lastem.
ARIA System at British School of Jakarta
Image: © APAQ Group
For more information, please contact info@apaq-group.com
*Channel News Asia (2019, August 1). Jakarta records worst air quality in the world again. Retrieved 13th March 2020 from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/jakarta-air-quality-worst-in-the-world-again-indonesia-11772442